Washington DC!!!!

Well.... to quickly fill you all in on why we went to DC, Marissa and Nick, our friends in this first pic, have relatives in DC who own an apartment. A few months ago, Marissa asked us if we would like to go on a trip with them to DC when we had our fall break. Our break happened to fall on the week of my birthday, so we combined the trip as a late anniversary/birthday celebration. We left the morning of Oct.7, after depositing Hobbes with Charity, Bethany and Wendy. Our trip was full of seeing everything possible in DC- the monuments, memorials, museums, shopping...you name it! So, to summarize, here are the pics:
First, the 4 of us on top of the Kennedy Center, trying not to get blown away/ Bray and I in Annnapolis, after our tour of the Naval Academy. Bray looking picturesque over the water in Annapolis.

The National Observatory(beautiful!)/ Me next to the statue of President Garfield during our tour of the Capitol building/
Near the African Art museum, taking a crazy pic with Marissa and Lydia/ Bray and I in front of the original Smithsonian building/





























Bray and I in front of the huge pillars of the Library of Congress/Part of the engraving of the walls of the WWII memorial, showing the Beach at Normandy/


The World War II memorial...amazing! One of my new favorites/
A dinosaur at the Museum of Natural history, Bray lovved the dinosaurs!:)/ Bray enjoying the hugeness of the Washington Monument/
In front of the apartment building we stayed in, which was a block from the National Cathedral/

In other words....we had a FABULOUS time! It was nice to be kid free for a week- although we missed Hobbes horribly....but the same cannot be said for him. He loved playing with the cousins, getting war wounds from stick battles, and hanging with G. G. and his 2 aunts. We are all back home now, and I shall put up some more pics of my birthday(23!) and Hobbes enjoying freedom from parents. Love to you all, and miss you terribly! Happy Halloween by the way!

Fun With Hobbes!

Well,as you can see from the photos, Hobbes has been the only one presentable for the camera. He is photogenic 24/7. :) In all seriousness, things have just been insane-I know, I always say that, but it's true- and thus, I have barely remembered to take pics of Hobbes for all you wonderful people.
His personality comes through more and more each day. He has entered more of the 'imitation' stage of things, and I have found him copying me on several counts. I was in the grocery store the other day, let me rephrase, I was in the Piggly Wiggly the other day, and I was looking at the meat. I wasn't watching Hobbes, and suddenly a worker asked, "Ohhh, does he know how to write?" I said noo, but then I turned and saw he had gotten a pen and a receipt out of my purse, and was trying to make a mark with it, like Mommy does! I must admit, it was one of his cuter moments.
On the downside, he's still learning that sharing means not screaming when you give up your toy...but he has some red marks near his behind area that should help. Anyhow, I shall give you an update on what we're really up to soon, but for now, enjoy the crazy baby!

Things to do...

Hello, again! We are back in the routine, so I just grabbed a free minute to show a few pics of where we're at....here's a night at the pool, relaxing before the kids come back. Hobbes, with his favorite hobby(no pun intended), playing vrrroom-or cars, and a few decor pics for my mom and sisters. I will write more later, but for now, love to you all!

Moscow one more time!

Here are just a few pics from our latest Moscow excursion- unfortunately, I did not always bring the camera with me this time, so there are not quite as many adorable pics as usual.:( So, instead, I'll give you a short update on what we managed to cram into 1 short week.
We:
-went to Trinity Fest
-saw "Leave It To Psmith," a play directed by my dad, with Jordan as the star(if you're reading this Jord, way to go!!!) and my 2 sisters in hilarious roles (miss u guys)
-celebrated my mom's 53rd bday(am I supposed to write that?), by going out to dinner and... getting her ears pierced!
- cut Carolyn's hair in such a cute way, that I am very tempted to do the same
-saw my Grandma Garfield, got to spend more time with her
-got to know Naphtali, my new sister-in-law a little better, especially after losing to Seth and her in Star Wars Life...do not underestimate the dark side, guys....we'll get you next time!
-worked a shift at Bucer's with Bray...and of course drank a lot of coffee
-spent time with all our favorite friends...which makes us miss them even more.
We love you all, it was so fun to see you!

ALABAMA!!!

Hey, Everyone!
Sorry it's been awhile- summer is at the heighth of it's craziness...trips, packing, driving, cleaning....it's a whirlwind! We got back to Monroe yesterday evening from a trip to Gadsden, Alabama. It was Bray's Grandma's 90th Birthday, and we had gone to join the rest of Wendy's side of the family to celebrate. His Grandmommy took all of us to Six Flags over Georgia on Tuesday...and we all had a blast! Gotta love huuugeee roller coasters. To tell you how fun and crazy his grandma is, she also took them to Six Flags on her 80th, and plans to do it again for the big 100!!! What a great fam I've married into!
Anyhow, we are on our way to Moscow tomorrow, so I will just show you a few pics from our trip, and give you more details later. Love you all!
For the pics:
Here is almost all the fam. We're still missing:
Remy, Bethany, Archer, Jaiken, Jordan, Matt, Thomas, Emily, Samson, and Laurabelle.

Eating ice cream with Mom for the 1st time! Riding the Carousel with Gigi for the 1st time, driving the car...do it all the time;), playing with Pop and the Alabama basketball he won for Bray, and being cool dudes with Dad.

Bonne Anniversaire !

Hello, Everyone!
As you can see, today is our 2nd anniversary! I can'r believe it! Time flies when you're having fun...and moving, having a baby, working.....well, you get the picture. We actually celebrated last night, as it was easier to find babysitters (Wendy) and restaurants on a Saturday night.
We went to Canards, a fancy-schmancy restaurant in Monroe, where we had things like duck, filet mignon, sparkling California wines, creme brulee, and incredibly good bread!
After we could eat no more, we decided to walk around the golf course right across the street from the restaurant, and take some-interesting- pictures. Since we had no one to take them for us, we had to do our best. As you can see, Bray decided to turn his head at the last minute on one of the smooching pics....ahhh, crazy times.:) We finished up the evening by going and seeing Superman Returns, which by the way, we loved, and drinking some good coffee. We miss you all, and are glad you've been a part of our lives thus far!

WALKING!!!

Yes, it's true-As of July 18, Hobbes is officially walking! He is now in the 'bumps and bruises' phase, as he is still fairly slow and hasn't quite decided to bend his knees while walking.
However- he is on the move!! Watch out!


As far as staying busy goes, Hobbes doesn't stop!
He wrestles with Dad-and usually wins, plays Peekaboo ( or in the south, Pee-Pie) and, of course, still practices for his future career as a concert pianist. ;) Love you all!

One Day Old vs. One Year Old :)

Look how much he's grown!But still so sweet!

Birthday Cake and Cribs

Here are a few pics of the post-birthday cake eating...Hobbes was surprisingly neat about it- he didn't ever just 'smash' it in! The other pics are of some fun presents, and the lowering of the crib mattress for the big boy!( as you can see, he decided to crawl under the crib, and into the middle of it while we were lowering it.) Enjoy!

Happy1st Birthday, Hobbes!!!

Hello, everyone!
As of 2:10 pm today, Hobbes is officially 1 years old! Can you believe it? I sure can't. Today started out pretty normal. I had this whole plan worked out for Hobbes' birthday celebration. I spent a lot of time making his birthday cake in the morning (see picture) and then we were planning to go to Monroe as soon as Bray got off work, to celebrate with the fam. Howeer, Bray got off work an hour and a half late, and Hobbes had been non-stop cranky, hot, little fever all afternoon. So, we decided to go later this evening, but then Hobbes got the flu. Obviously, God is in control of even the most minute details.:) Anyhow, I don't know if he'll feel up to eating his cake tomorrow, but if he does, I'll put some pics up of that. We love you all, and are so glad you've been a part of Hobbes' life so far! God bless!
Here are some birthday pics: Hobbes in his turtle shirt making crazy faces/ Opening birthday loot from Grandma & Grandpa Garfield-I love you guys!/Hobbes' birthday cake